Microsoft now permits uninstalling Edge, Bing, and OneDrive to adhere to the EU's Digital Markets Act.

ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 1923 points – Microsoft starts rollout of Windows DMA compliance changes in Europe - gHacks Tech News
ghacks.net

These changes are only applicable to users in the EEA. For those outside the region, Windows will continue to function as it is!

The changes to Windows for DMA-compliance include:

  • You can now uninstall Edge and Bing web search using the built-in settings. Earlier, the option was greyed out.
  • Third-party web search application developers can now utilize the Windows search box in the taskbar using the instructions provided by Microsoft and choose any web browser to show results from the web.
  • Microsoft will no longer sign-in users to Edge, Bing, and Microsoft Start services during the initial Windows setup experience.
  • Data collected about the functioning of non-Microsoft apps, primarily bug detection and its effects on the OS, from Windows PCs will not be used for competitive purposes.
  • Microsoft, from now on, will need explicit user consent before combining data from the OS and other sources. It will also deliver new consent screens where required.
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This ought to happen everywhere. Either I'm the admin on my machine or I'm not. If it's not, I'm not sure how much longer I'll tolerate a Windows machine.

PSA: Once this rolls out into the actual downloadable Windows builds, everyone should be able to do this by reinstalling Windows.

European Economic Area PCs

As noted above, some functionality is only available in the EEA. Windows uses the region chosen by the customer during device setup to identify if the PC is in the EEA. Once chosen in device setup, the region used for DMA compliance can only be changed by resetting the PC.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Can we get THIS fucking comment on the front page please? Outstanding work, friend! Sincere thanks!

I'd worry about how that might effect other things. Windows isn't the only thing that changes its behavior based on region. What other software would be looking at that specific region setting?

That's the real gift given by Microsoft:

Once chosen in device setup, the region used for DMA compliance can only be changed by resetting the PC.

Just change your region back to where ever you are after setup. Nothing on your PC outside of the OS will be reading the region set during Windows Install, they'll be asking for the currently set region.

Maybe I'm misreading what you quoted but it seems to suggest you can't do what you're suggesting.

Once that region is set, it's locked in unless you do a reset of the PC...which would presumably go through the windows set up again and ask for region.

You can always change your region in settings though, and Microsoft is not removing that ability as that would cause much much bigger problems. But their DMA checking only cares about the region selected at set up, whereas everything happening at runtime only ever gets the current region as the set up region has never been available before.

Hmm, if it doesn't honor that setting being changed after the initial install it could be possible to set it during install to get the benefits, then change it post install to make other apps behave normally.

You haven't been the sole admin on a Windows machine in a long time, friend.